New Topic policy

[Zenial↑↓]

I'm just wondering what the policy is on starting new topics on this forum. To be more precise, why is it that so often new topics are started that have the same subject as old topics? For instance, in the general chat part, every time Neopets is slow or offline a new topic is made about it. Every time there's new news available a new topic is made, each time turmaculus is awake a new topic is made, etc etc. I visit more fora and they usually have the policy to put all those same things in the same topic. It really keeps things a lot clearer. The forum rules also say "You should then make sure nobody else has already started a similar topic which you could post your message in" but nothing seems to be done to enforce this rule?
I enjoy the forum by the way, I just think it could be a lot less messy than it is now.

[Alex↑↓]

Obviously, I can't speak for the staff, but I can give you my view on it.

The way I see it, is that while it's the same subject, it's a different case every time. If there was only one topic for the Turmaculus, people might not know at first glance if it was actually awake without actually reading through the whole thing. With the new news, people like to comment on the features on a daily basis. The online/offline thing is the same as the Turmaculus, people might not know which incident it was referring to.

Of course, I could be totally off track with my view, but that's my take. Where the forum rules state "You should then make sure nobody else has already started a similar topic which you could post your message in", I believe that it actually refers to things such as new games, new features, and things along those lines.

[Ammer↑↓]

Obviously, I can't speak for the staff, but I can give you my view on it.

The way I see it, is that while it's the same subject, it's a different case every time. If there was only one topic for the Turmaculus, people might not know at first glance if it was actually awake without actually reading through the whole thing. With the new news, people like to comment on the features on a daily basis. The online/offline thing is the same as the Turmaculus, people might not know which incident it was referring to.

Of course, I could be totally off track with my view, but that's my take. Where the forum rules state "You should then make sure nobody else has already started a similar topic which you could post your message in", I believe that it actually refers to things such as new games, new features, and things along those lines.

Alex is right. I'm not speaking for the staff but here's my view on it as well,

Turmaculus topics are made when the Turmaculus is awake and once the Turmaculus is asleep, the Mods lock it. When people make topics on 'New News', they like to discuss what features Neopets added to the site that day. If someone else makes a 'New News' topic at the same time, the Mods lock it.

If the Admins/Moderators made a sticky for 'New News' and 'Turmaculus' it would clutter up the Forum making new topics (which are unstickied) very hard to see. They would be pushed down to bottom and you would mostly see Stickies.

Anywho, this is simply my view on it. Better to hear something from a Mod or Admin.

[Runevalkyrie↑↓]

Obviously, I can't speak for the staff, but I can give you my view on it.

The way I see it, is that while it's the same subject, it's a different case every time. If there was only one topic for the Turmaculus, people might not know at first glance if it was actually awake without actually reading through the whole thing. With the new news, people like to comment on the features on a daily basis. The online/offline thing is the same as the Turmaculus, people might not know which incident it was referring to.

Of course, I could be totally off track with my view, but that's my take. Where the forum rules state "You should then make sure nobody else has already started a similar topic which you could post your message in", I believe that it actually refers to things such as new games, new features, and things along those lines.

^She's right in her views.

We do have our guidelines in managing topics like that, but in cases like new news and the Turmaculus they have slightly different exceptions. The policy you're refering actually refers to duplicate topics (in the main commment as an example, there can't be two topics about news for the same day.) It would cause more problems if it was reduced to a single thread (even as a casual member, I've had no problems with it beofre you mentioned it.)

[Zenial↑↓]

Sorry but I do want to bring up the subject of new topics again.
Lately there seems to be an increase in new topics, so much that the general chat area sometimes starts to look like the neopet boards...

Some ideas that may stop the forum from cluttering up:

- Fixed topics for Turmaculus, 'Neopets down / laggy' and the 'I got frozen' subjects so that not everybody creates a new topic for it. They could be sticky but it's not even necessary.

- A policy for clear topic titles. So titles like "hey", "Can somebody help" and "I'm scared" won't be allowed. Things would be so much clearer if you don't need to look inside the topic to know what it's actually about. Maybe moderators can change the unclear topic titles?

- A lot of unnecessary topics are locked now, which is very good! But they still clutter up the topic list. I've seen other fora where locked topics are displayed at the bottom of the topic list, and this might be a good idea for the ppt forum too? So you first see all the valid topics and then all the locked ones

Let me know what you think, or if you have any other suggestions to make the forum less messy

[ahoteinrun↑↓]

A lot of unnecessary topics are locked now, which is very good! But they still clutter up the topic list. I've seen other fora where locked topics are displayed at the bottom of the topic list, and this might be a good idea for the ppt forum too? So you first see all the valid topics and then all the locked ones

The way our forum works, I don't believe this is possible. The topics move based on who posted last on them, and what time they were posted at. Hence how topics eventually dissapear.
Sometimes people need to know sometimes why topics were locked, especially if they were locked for flaming on the thread, arguments, or off-topicness. Instead of Pming all the parties involved (which can sometimes take a very long time), it can be easier to post a general warning to the parties involved, and then lock the topic.
I'm not saying we as staff are lazy (so please don't take it that way), but it's incredibly time consuming for someone like me to write five or six Pms about the same thing, because I don't like to copy/paste. I write personal messages to everyone I send out, about what was said.

- A policy for clear topic titles. So titles like "hey", "Can somebody help" and "I'm scared" won't be allowed. Things would be so much clearer if you don't need to look inside the topic to know what it's actually about. Maybe moderators can change the unclear topic titles?

Generally we let people write what they want in topic titles. Unclear topic titles can often be more interesting then the clear ones, and they can often attract people in ways other topic titles can't. Staff only change titles that are inappropriate, or completely off kilter to what the topic is. Like say "Birds are stupid" when you've got a topic about some weird glitch on Neo. THEN the topic might be changed. Because it's completely non-sensical, but even then.... one may never know. I do believe some staff also fix spelling errors in topic titles if they're glaring and horrible.
But in general we don't change topic titles.

- Fixed topics for Turmaculus, 'Neopets down / laggy' and the 'I got frozen' subjects so that not everybody creates a new topic for it. They could be sticky but it's not even necessary.

But why? Every case for people getting frozen is different, every news post is different, every neopets down/laggy post is different (so long as they're not posted about the same thing). People like to know whats going on, and if there are repeat topics they are then locked and taken care of. The problem with having a "I'm frozen" or an "Neopets down/laggy" sticky is that they would not only clutter up the stickies, but they would also not get as much use as the stickies we already have.
The post number that we get for things like "Neopets down" and "I'm frozen" is far fewer then what you may think. Having two stickies for it, would be a waste of a good sticky.
*nods*